8-track tapes

[halfnote]

I read a suggestion recently that 8-track tapes (the car version not the Otari, etc) were avctually fairly high quuality.

Any opinions ?

[Jon Hiller]

The problem with them, other than the cartridge design having flaws in design which caused them to fail, was that the tape didn't travel fast enough, and the cartridge often impeded the heads aligning properly. I wouldn't call that design all that great.

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

I read a suggestion recently that 8-track tapes (the car version not the Otari, etc) were avctually fairly high quuality. Any opinions ?

 

 

Not particularly IMO.

 

We're talking 8 tracks (four stereo pairs), spread across a 1/4" wide piece of tape that's running at 3.75 IPS. Contrast that with standard compact cassettes - four tracks (two stereo pairs) spread across a 1/8" wide piece of tape that runs at 1.875 IPS. Yes, the tape speed is faster, but you're still talking about narrow format, slow speed tape. And they're mechanical nightmares due to the way their headstacks realign at the end of the tape loop when they "switch tracks". I used to hate how some songs would have to fade out right in the middle of them, then fade back up after one of the switches - albums almost never "lined up" on 8 track like they did on LPs or even cassettes.

 

Phase, crosstalk and alignment issues can be pretty significant with Stereo 8 (8 Track) cartridges. There really weren't any serious "pro grade" machines available, and most players (and the occasional recorder) were pretty cheaply built. You're not going to find the equivalent of a Nakamichi Dragon out there for Stereo 8. Their transports are pretty primitive too, and they usually only had fast forward, play and stop controls.

 

If you're looking for a better quality analog recording / playback deck, a used Otari half track in decent shape is going to give you much better sound quality, and they can be found for very little money these days.

[Mr.Grumpy]

Oh gawd, NO!!! 8-tracks are about the worst-sounding format commercial music has ever been released on. IMO worse than cassette, if you can believe. Part of the problem with 8-tracks is that the pinch roller has to be built into the cartridge. On a cassette or open-reel deck, the pinch roller is part of the machine and is a precision part with quality bearings. On a mass-produced, super-cheap 8-track cart, the pinch roller is a plastic wheel on a plastic shaft. It's also a big tape loop, so it can't be rewound. You can only play or fast forward, and the fast forward speed is limited...

 

Even though the tape speed is double that of a cassette, the quality isn't there. Lots and lots of tape hiss... I think later 8-tracks were encoded with Dolby-B noise reduction, but most players didn't have Dolby so you were supposed to turn down the treble to compensate. They also had "wow and flutter" - minor, cyclic speed variations. It can sound like a vibrato effect on certain kinds of music, very noticeable on things like piano solos.

 

8-tracks were mainly a format for cars and portable tape players. Home decks were available, but they were very rare. Cassettes took over from open-reels for home stereo use around the mid 70's. To be fair, I don't think 8-track was ever intended to be a "high fidelity" format, it was designed to simple (and cheap) way to play your tunes in your car, and for that it worked.

[Lee Flier]

Oh yeah, 8-track sucked! And I say this as a die hard analog fan. I'd much rather listen to a cassette than an 8-track.